


Day 6 - Wired

by GemmaRose



Series: OC-tober [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Gen, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: What Gemrise doesn't know won't hurt them.
Relationships: Hot Rod (Transformers) & Original Character(s)
Series: OC-tober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958275
Kudos: 2





	Day 6 - Wired

Telltale flexed his hands, working some of the kinks out of his fingers as Hot Rod finished setting the last of this location’s charges. “You don’t think we’ll have to use these, do you?” he asked, watching his friend work the wall panel which would hide the bombs back into place.

“Hopefully not.” Hot Rod sighed, the air around his hands shimmering as he heated them to smooth the metal back into shape. “But Gemmy keeps having those nightmares about giants destroying Nyon, and they _are_ an outlier.”

“Look, I trust them too, but...” Telltale chewed the inside of his cheek, acutely aware of the sound of his vents, too loud in the otherwise quiet basement. “It’s one thing to give our own lives for the cause. Taking the city with us is another.”

“Which is why they’re the backup.” Hot Rod smiled, though his field flickered with stress. “Plus, Gemrise has got those evacuation plans, and they said they’ll know when it’s time to use them.” he walked over and squeezed Telltale’s shoulder, his hand a reassuring warmth. “We’re going to be _fine_ , Tells. Trust me, and Gemmy. We’ll make sure you and Fritt get out together.”

“Yeah, sure...” Telltale agreed reluctantly. Gemrise was always frustratingly vague about what they knew, and the one time he’d pressed they had snapped that they didn’t _want_ to be right. In their earliest visions, the number of survivors had been so low as to be nonexistent, and Hot Rod had been left alone in a world against him. Rods was great and all, but Telltale knew better than most just how badly that would frag him up.

“Hey, wanna see if we can score some boosters?” Hot Rod tucked his arms behind his helm with his signature wild grin. “I saw a mech the other mega-cycle who looked like he’d sell me a handful for a good makeout.”

“Rods, no.” Telltale frowned. “Gemrise would take my glossa out if they knew.”

“So we won’t tell them.” Hot Rod shrugged. “C’mon, mech. The kind you can buy with a kiss aren’t even strong enough to be addictive.”

“Depends on who’s selling them.” he muttered, but followed Hot Rod through the grimy streets of their home to an alley better trafficked than most. Sure enough, a couple of mechs were propped up against the walls, spent chips littering the ground alongside cygarette stubs and the wrappers of transdermal patches.

“There you are!” Hot Rod beamed, field flaring artificially bright as he strode up to his mark and seated himself across the mech’s lap. He knew his buddy had abandoned his forged function for a reason, but Telltale couldn’t help but think that Hot Rod must’ve been a damn good entertainer. In kliks the mech was passing a small envelope to Hot Rod, who all but skipped back to Telltale’s side with nothing but grime on his spoiler to show what he’d just done, easy as venting.

“You are a scary mech sometimes, you know that?” Telltale asked as they left the alleyway and headed back to the condemned tower they were staying in at the moment.

“I have my skills.” Hot Rod grinned, pulling out the envelope once they were sufficiently alone and flicking through its contents. “Damn, he’s dumber than he looks. There’s enough in here for a stellar cycle, for both of us.”

“Probably forgot not everyone goes through patches as fast as junkies do.” Telltale scoffed. Internally though, he was glad. Hot Rod had hated being an entertainer, and no matter how easy it was for his friend to turn on the charm he knew there was a reason Rods always, _always_ boosted right after scoring patches. “And what do you mean, both of us?”

“There’s speeders in here.” Hot Rod shook the envelope at him, and Telltale reigned his field in close. Speeders for when he couldn’t recharge but was too tired to do anything, for when he had to keep moving because stopping to rest meant being arrested or worse. For bribing the thugs who lurked around Fritt’s place to let him in without telling her stalker that he’d been by.

“You always do look out for me, Rods.” he beamed, and Hot Rod laughed as he slipped a yellow-wrapped patch into Telltale’s palm.

“What are friends for?” he pulled another patch from the envelope before tucking it back in his subspace, this one a violent purple. The wrapper fluttered to the ground, and Hot Rod’s plating loosened slightly as the booster hit his systems. “Race you home!”

“You’re on!” he grinned, ripping open his own patch and slapping it on his neck before transforming, borrowed energy coursing through his frame, sharpening the world at the edges, marshalling his thoughts into order and pushing the ever-present doubts down so deep he could almost forget they existed. His wheels his the road, and he whooped as he chased his friend’s taillights down the street. Gemrise worried for good reason, he knew, but he wasn’t stupid enough to get hooked and Hot Rod ran too hot to sustain any sort of regular habit.

They tore through the streets, tripping over each other as they headed through the door on their pedes, and when they fell onto their shared berth Hot Rod was practically vibrating with energy, smiling with a near-manic joy. “Love you.” he laughed, and Telltale pulled him in for a tight hug.

“Love you too, you dope.”

“You’re both idiots.” Gemrise drawled from the far end of the room, and Hot Rod startled, spoiler twitching guiltily.

“Hey, uh, Gemmy.” he smiled, fidgeting his way out of Telltale’s arms. Telltale let him, his processor racing, the speeder in his lines making his fingers tremble, but only slightly. Hot Rod had been right, these really were low-end patches. “Thought you were out on intel.”

“Not when you need me.” Gemrise pushed off the wall, their single optic seeming brighter than usual in the gloom of their hab. “Telltale, take the chips and go. Just try to let that patch burn out before you get there, Fritt would hate it if you showed up high.”

Telltale snagged the envelope right out of Hot Rod’s subspace, tucking it into his own and turning to hightail it out of there. Gemrise was _really_ good at making a mech feel bad for disappointing them, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

“Sorry, Gem.” Hot Rod mumbled, and Telltale stopped in the hall to sort out his things from Rod’s. “Telltale was with me-”

“He only counts if he’s sober.” Gemrise said firmly, and Telltale heard them kneel, their bad knee servo protesting loudly. “How much did you get?”

“Just this one.” Hot Rod lied, and Telltale tucked the envelope back in his subspace. “And some chips for Telltale.”

“Well, at least you got home in one piece.” Gemrise said as softly as their empurata vocaliser could manage, and Telltale stuffed the envelope back in his subspace sans the chips he’d need to bribe his way in to see his courtmate. If he hit the road now, he just might make it to Fritt’s before Hadeen went down completely.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was _supposed_ to be about telltale and roddy wiring nyon with bombs, but somehow this came out instead.
> 
> Apologies to any not-logged-in readers, but due to an ex who refuses to leave me alone I have had to disable anon comments. Kudos are still open though, and if you want to scream (or would like me to write a fic for you) come check me out on Pillowfort! No account required to get my discord, and I'm always happy to chat. [[Link](https://www.pillowfort.social/GemmaRose)]


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